


Real Nice Smile

by cantfuckinbelievethis (orphan_account)



Series: One-shots [7]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: AU, Ian does not have relationships with older guys in this, M/M, Mechanic!Mickey, Youtuber AU, and ian and mickey get together quick, fashion blogger!mandy, gonna be short, just some fun, musician!ian, youtuber!ian
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-04
Updated: 2016-05-04
Packaged: 2018-06-06 08:24:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6746536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/cantfuckinbelievethis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ian is a YouTuber. I suck at summaries sorry. Also the title doesn't have much to do with the story idkidkidk (This could be considered incomplete as I planned to do more, but I suppose it could also just be read as a general AU exposition of their history).</p>
            </blockquote>





	Real Nice Smile

Ian was twelve when Fiona stole them their first computer. She was on the el when a guy left his bag under his seat by accident. Fiona jumped on the opportunity, being desperate for money since she was in charge of her family, and took it home with her. The bag had the laptop, some money, an attachable webcam, and a bunch of really shitty song lyrics. Fiona was going to pawn the laptop, but Lip convinced her that keeping it would be an investment for their schooling. Really, he was just getting sick of going to the library to look up the things he needed to know and he knew how to mooch off other people’s internet.  
  
    It took a few months before Ian even got a chance with it. Lip was always on it. Sometimes Ian would look over to see him in a chatroom with a bunch of randoms. Fiona always got mad at him for it, but Lip thought he was smarter than Fiona when it came to this stuff. She got especially mad when he looked up porn, mainly because of the viruses, but also sometimes she joked that he would become a sex addict if he kept looking at it. Ian wasn’t too interested in porn yet, but he just wanted to have a go at the laptop. It was stupid that they got one and he didn’t get to do anything with it. He waited until Lip was out of the house doing something with the girl down the road, and Fiona had taken Debbie and Carl to the park, before he searched through Lip’s stuff for the laptop. After giving it a wipe-down with some baby wipes, just in case, he opened it and went on the internet.  
  
    He’d never actually been on the internet except at school, and he was still at the age where some of the teachers actually gave a shit to see what they were doing, so he never actually got to go on anything fun. First he opened up a chatroom that he’d seen Lip on, but that turned out to be pretty boring because it was just talking to people about stupid stuff. He opened up Lip’s MySpace page, that he had stopped using a few weeks ago to use Facebook instead, and was soon bored again because it was just Lip flirting with girls and posting numerous web-cam pics of him with his fringe across his forehead.  
  
    He decided to try to type in random words and see if it came up with anything fun. He typed in “wizz” and a video came up from a site called YouTube called “Snorting Wizz Fizz”. Ian didn’t know what Wizz Fizz was, but he clicked on it anyway. It was some kid snorting this white stuff that actually looked a bit like coke. Ian laughed a little at the guy’s reaction, but was upset that it was only 19 seconds long. He started clicking on recommended videos, watching more and more for about an hour before Fiona came back. When she did, he put the laptop back in Lip’s stuff and went to help her with Carl and Debbie.  
  
    The next time he went on the laptop, he went right to YouTube. He watched videos every chance he got, finding them so interesting and cool. Then, one guy who he watched a lot, because he was funny and kinda hot, posted a video about how to make a vlog. Ian, deciding that he probably had a lot of interesting stories and it could be cool, got out the attachable webcam they kept and made a video of him talking about something that happened last week. Without thinking much of it, he posted it. The next time he checked his account, he had fifteen views and one comment from **i-h34rt-i-lin3r** saying, “This was rlly funny **s0ull3ssginG3r**! And u have a real nice smile :) U should make another 1” So he did.  
  
    He made another video, and another, and another, until he was posting regularly. No one knew about it. No one knew that he had posted at least twenty-three videos, that he had well-over a hundred subscribers, and that he loved making videos. He lasted a few more months before anyone found out. Finally, Lip caught him making a video. He made fun of Ian for it, asking, ‘Who would want to watch videos of _you_?’ Ian quickly showed him the comments and number of subscribers. Lip dismissed it, saying, ‘You probably made a hundred accounts and followed yourself.’ Ian still stole the laptop to post videos as much as he could.  
  
    He couldn’t help it. It felt like having another family. He loved his own family, but this family wanted to know things about him. They asked him questions, they told him how well he was doing, they seemed interested in him, especially **i-h34rt-i-lin3r** , who had become a good friend of his online.  
  
    When he was thirteen, he had three thousand subscribers. He had also changed his YouTuber name from **s0ull3ssginG3r** to **ianclay96** since he had dyed his hair dark brown. There was a group of girls who were following him and asked him to post a video of him singing, mainly because they thought it’d be cute. **i-h34rt-i-lin3r** always bitched about them to Ian, saying that they were probably desperate whores. Ian kind of thought that maybe **i-h34rt-i-lin3r** had a crush on him, but he never mentioned it for fear that she actually would want to take it further.  
  
    He decided to post a video of him singing anyway, even if he wasn’t too sure if he sounded that good. He decided to sing Use Somebody by Kings of Leon, because it was a kick-ass song in his opinion. He posted it, went to bed, and woke up with over a hundred more subscribers. From there, it just snowballed. People thought he was a good singer; people thought he was cute; people thought he was funny. Ian couldn’t help himself. He loved it. His next video he sang You Found Me by The Fray, since it was requested. People just kept requesting more and more songs, and he kept singing them.  
  
    By the time he was fifteen, Ian had one hundred thousand subscribers. Eleven year old Debbie was his biggest supporter outside of the internet. She loved watching his videos and seeing everyone complimenting her big brother. He sort of became her idol after that. **i-h34rt-i-lin3r** , now **mandy3825-u-87** , was extremely excited for him and constantly promoted him on her own fashion blog she had. She had a few thousand as well, and since Ian promoted her in kind, the number steadily grew. They hadn’t video-chatted yet, but they had discussed it. Mandy didn’t seem to want to much, so Ian didn’t push it, but he was beginning to worry that Mandy was actually a fifty year old.  
  
    A few months after hitting one hundred subscribers, Ian made a video singing Rolling in the Deep by Adele. He was packing up the camera he had stolen when, out of nowhere, someone slammed his door open. Ian ignored it, thinking it was one of his siblings.  
  
    ‘I love cats; I love every kind of cat; I just want to hug all of them, but I ca—’ Ian was stopped mid-song when he was tackled onto the floor.  
  
    ‘What the fuck do you think you’re doing talking to my fuckin’ sister online, Gallagher?!’ A seventeen year old and very pissed off Mickey Milkovich demanded as he pinned him to the floor, one arm pressed against Ian’s throat. ‘Where do you get off harassing her and tryn’a get her to take her clothes off, huh?!’  
  
    The question of whether Mandy was a fifty year old was quickly answered then when he remembered Mandy Milkovich was in his class. He had once thought it might’ve been Mandy, but he figured she would’ve said something by then. Apparently she didn’t want him to know it was her, and that’s why she refused to video-chat. However, then there was the additional question of what the hell Mickey was on about when it came to the requesting naked stuff.  
  
    ‘What?’ Ian wheezed. ‘I wouldn’t do that!’  
  
    ‘Don’t lie to me, Gallagher; I saw the fuckin’ chats!’ Mickey pressed his arm down harder. ‘Who else would have the stupid fuckin’ username sexygallagher01?’  
  
    If Ian’s windpipe wasn’t being crushed, he would’ve groaned, ‘Carl!’  
  
    Luckily, before Ian could sing no longer because he was…well, dead via throat smooshing, Mandy came rushing in and yanked Mickey off Ian.  
  
    ‘Don’t touch him, Mick!’ Mandy snapped. ‘It wasn’t him. You were looking at the wrong chats!’  
  
    ‘You said it was fuckin’ Firecrotch!’ Mickey argued, ignoring Ian, who was gasping for breath on the floor.  
  
    ‘I thought you saw _our_ chats, not the ones where Carl was being a little asshole!’ Mandy glanced at Ian. ‘You really need to talk to your brother about that before he meets the wrong end of my baton. Nice to formally meet you, by the way.’  
  
    Mickey shot a scowl in Ian’s direction, snapping, ‘You better fuckin’ watch yourself, Gallagher.’  
  
    Once he stormed out of the room, Mandy and Ian finally sat down and had a talk. Mandy explained that she was too nervous to tell him it was her in case he wouldn’t want to talk to her anymore. Ian told her that wouldn’t happen, because she was his best friend. Mandy was elated and went to kiss him, but he quickly explained that although she was beautiful, he definitely didn’t swing that way. At first she got upset, not believing him, but after some thorough convincing, she understood. She was still really disappointed and embarrassed, but she made her peace with it.  
  
    A week later, Ian came home to find his camera missing. Mandy rushed in after him, explaining that she had accidentally watched some of his videos and Mickey saw. Mickey then stole the camera, thinking it was funny, and had it at her place. Ian told her not to worry about it, but secretly decided to go there at some point when Mandy wasn’t home to take it back. After all, he fucking needed it if he was going to keep his online family. He also needed to make sure that Mickey didn’t go around telling everyone about him. They would end up giving him hell more than they already did.  
  
    Ian snuck into the house, finding Mickey looking through the camera. The only thing the brunet did when Ian walked in was laugh and taunt Ian with the camera, talking shit about his videos. After a few moments of this, Ian was done with trying to do this without violence and punched Mickey across the face. Mickey, who looked somewhat impressed and incredibly pissed off, tossed the camera away so it smashed on the floor. Ian snapped then, incredibly angry that Mickey had ruined everything. They got in a fight and it ended up with Ian over Mickey, his smashed camera in his hand raised above him, ready to bring it down on his head. He was straddling Mickey, his ass pressed against Mickey’s crotch. He paused when he felt something rise beneath him. An erection. Before he could think about it, except for thinking _holy shit_ , he dropped his camera and started taking his clothes off.  
  
    After their first fuck, Mickey propositioned him a week later, but Ian was still pissed off about his camera. Two days later found him with a brand new (stolen) camera resting on his bookcase as he fucked Mickey victoriously. The new camera was a whole lot fucking better than his last camera and, really, it felt like a good thing that Mickey stole his first camera. Now he got a new camera and someone to fuck around with.  
  
    At his seventeenth birthday party, he was surprised by Debbie with a letter from a major record label. He had over a few million subscribers now, Mickey was out, and they were in an exclusive, committed relationship, and Ian couldn’t be happier. Or so he thought. It turns out Debbie had contacted them and asked them to look at signing Ian, and now there was a letter from them saying that they wanted to do so. He refused to do it in front of everyone, but later when he was in the bathroom by himself, staring down at the letter, he let a few tears fall.  
  
    Ever since he started singing on his channel, all he wanted was to do it as his career. He loved singing and performing, and worked harder and harder to get better at it. There had been so much effort from himself to get himself noticed. He had to ignore so many people who made fun of him or told him he was stupid. And now he had something to show for it. To most of his family and friends, subscribers meant nothing, but money meant everything. It was the only way they would know how much work he had done. To him, he appreciated every single person who subscribed to him, who wanted to hear him and see him, but they would need cold, hard cash to understand. He brought in quite a bit of money with his channel, but they still just saw it as an ordinary job. Nothing to be proud of.  
  
    There was a soft knock at the door and Ian sniffed, shuffling over to open it. And there Mickey stood, so different to how he was when they had first started. Or maybe he wasn’t different, maybe he was just less scared. His boyfriend offered him a grin and wrapped his arm around his shoulder, pulling him in for a hug.  
  
    While they held each other, Mickey whispered, ‘So proud of you, man,’ in his ear and Ian sniffed again, stifling a grin.  
  
    Ian turned nineteen in Berlin, on his first tour. He had released an album, which had gone to number one on iTunes in over 47 countries. He had a place in LA with Mickey and Mandy, and sent money home to his family. Mickey stood next to him at the afterparty, celebrating his last show of the tour. Since Mickey was a mechanic, he didn’t come with Ian on his tours, which oftentimes put a strain on their relationship, but they powered through it. It was Ian’s birthday, though, so he took off work to spend a week on tour with him.  
  
    Now, a week after his tour, he has decided to have a little hiatus to go back to his YouTube roots and spend some more time with Mickey.

**Author's Note:**

> I have a lot of feelings about this. Mainly because most of it I actually did research on to make sure it was historically compliant and because i got to look back on some stuff and because i love ian and mandys friendship. this is mostly just explanation about how ian got where he is :)


End file.
